Introduction
of student representatives of the Graduate Council was made.

Executive
Committee –Dr. Fields reminded members of the graduate council that Friday,
October 19 is the deadline for students to register for the upcoming TAMUS
Pathways Symposium.As of Tuesday
October 16, 2007, 43 out of the 55 seats available in the charter bus that will
provide transportation to students are booked. He reminded members that only
one night of accommodation plus a couple of meals will be sponsored.Dr. Fields also reminded the council members
that a revised spring 2008 IRB Manual is available on the Office of Research
and Sponsored Programs’ web site.

Dr.
Fields reported that there are concerns that the university does not have consistent
policies established for cases where graduate students repeatedly fail their
comprehensive examinations.Members of
the graduate council felt the need to standardize these policies and make them
explicit. Therefore, Dean Olivares asked graduate council representatives from
Wildlife, Engineering, and Education to return to next month's meeting with
reports on their programs' policies in this regard, addressing:

(a) How many times
should a student who has failed a comprehensive exam be
allowed to repeat it?

(b) For doctoral
students, what is the sequence and timing for the proposal defense?

and
qualifying exam defense?

(c)Should doctoral
students be required to submit a journal publication of theirdissertation
as a requirement for graduation?(This
last item will be delayed for

future
discussion).

Curriculum Committee – Dr. Sue Bradley
presented a proposal to delete the M.S. program in Geology. Because of
insufficient number of students, all courses offered in this program will become
supportive program. A motion to accept this proposal was approved.

Just
after the Curriculum Committee report, Dr. Michelle Brown from the Department
of Educational Leadership & Counseling asked if the curriculum committee
had received curriculum change proposals from her, and Dr. Bradley replied that
she had not.Dean Olivares raised the
concern that many curriculum proposals may be getting lost, so he suggested
that those departments submitting proposals should follow them through as they
progress up to the Provost Office.

Dr. Fields reminded members that the deadline for curriculum
proposals is November 15 at the Provost office.

3.It is recommended that all graduate research reports, theses,
and dissertations be submitted by students in both hard copy form and
digitally.Committee chairpersons
require a copy in digital format.Details regarding submission procedures are left up to the department to
communicate to their student. As usual, only hard copies are submitted to the
Graduate Office.

Dr
Olivares introduced Dr. Masa, the University Honors Chairman who had a message
regarding the Alpha Chi honors society. His briefing is summarized in 4 points:

Alpha
Chi is a national interdisciplinary university honors society that inducts
members in the top10% of their class (juniors and seniors)

As of Fall 2007, Alpha Chi is allowing
graduate students to become part of Alpha Chi.

The
national organization is allowing individual universities to determine
what is “top 10%” for graduate students.

Suggested
guidelines:

a.GPA of 4.0 is the automatic cutoff for eligibility

b.Both graduate and undergraduate GPA can be considered

c.Rank students within their college/discipline and select the
top 10%

Members
agreed to the need of consensus and suggested that GPA of 3.5 for undergraduate
students and 3.75 for graduate students can be used as cutoffs for eligibility.
However, for graduate students, Dr. Masa will send to the chairman of each
department a list of their students meeting the primary eligibility criteria
based on GPA. The department will make the final recommendation on the top
10%.It was also agreed that only
graduate students (M.S. and Ph.D.) who have completed a full year at the
University are eligible for such honors.

Student Representatives – No report,
but three of the new student representatives that were present for the first
time this year were introduced to the Council.

Old Business – No report, but Dean
Olivares stated that progress reports are expected from the Doctoral and
Masters task forces during the next meeting.